This chapter is from the book

Text Selection Shortcuts

To enable you to keep both hands on the keyboard, a number of shortcuts allow you to select text, deselect text, and change the text that is selected. See Table 5-4 for a selection of these shortcuts.

Table 5-4. Text Selection Shortcuts

Description

Shortcut

Selects the current identifier or other word that the insertion point is on.

Alt-J

Selects all the text between a set of parentheses, brackets, or curly braces. The insertion point must be resting immediately after either the opening or closing parenthesis/bracket/brace.

Ctrl-Shift-[

Selects the current code element. Upon subsequent pressings, incrementally increases the size of the selection to include surrounding code elements. For example, if you press Alt-Shift-S once, the current word is selected. If you press it again, the rest of the expression might be selected. Pressing a third time might select the whole statement. Pressing a fourth time might select the whole method.

Alt-Shift-S

Selects the next (previous) character or extends the selection one character.

Shift-Right (Shift-Left)

Selects the next (previous) word or extends the selection one word.

Ctrl-Shift-Right (Ctrl-Shift-Left)

Creates or extends the text selection one line down (up).

Shift-Down (Shift-Up)

Creates or extends the text selection to the end (beginning) of the line.

Shift-End (Shift-Home)

Creates or extends the text selection to the end (beginning) of the document.